Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[MJ DeMarco]

I think I get what you're saying. School counselors don't meet with students for regular sessions. When I saw my school counselor years ago, she mostly just wanted to talk about my plans for college and her room was filled with college info pamplets.

Since you all are talking about schools and mental health, nowadays every school in Western cultures should have a mental health class, and how to deal with depression, feelings of loneliness and isolation.

When I was a student, every student had to take MATH.

Now, every student needs to take a "MENTAL HEALTH" class, or a class on "HAPPINESS."

 

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[Fox]

Still hits hard 24 years later ha...

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I liked "The Power of Now" book. Didn't see it in conflict with "discomfort" or Goggins' style either. Although these kinds of books aren't the easiest to read, they can have a profound impact. Michael Singer seems in conflict with my character if he's recused himself to a "monk" life. Will pass on this for now... unless I am wrong and someone cares to elaborate.

Singer's books have elevated my level of happiness by several orders of magnitude. It also helped that he's been an entrepreneur and a leader for 40+ years, and also fought the FBl and won. Will his work help you? Hard to say. People who generally won't stop and smell the roses, and have "more more more" as a life philosophy won't get value from his message.

 

[Kak]

If American gov is “of the people by the people and for the people” tell me, when TF a did “the people” decide buying a sticker for our cars every year was a good idea?

 

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[Lex DeVille]

I would love to hear your perspective on this since this is more your area of expertise.

It seems like the fad in some circles nowadays to use a therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist regularly throughout their life, in such a way that it seems like they are just a stand-in for a role that a friend or SO would typically take.

I was under the impression that unless someone has an debilitating ongoing illness (e.x. BPD), a successful mental health professional is meant to give them the tools to cope and/or navigate through their issues, then send them on their way. They aren't there to be their friend or help guide them through the rest of their lives. So if someone has an ongoing long term relationship with one, it's either a failure of the professional to reach the client or the client is misusing the purpose of the services. 6 months of sessions sounds reasonable. 6 years sounds like either they are looking for job security or the client is looking for a crutch to handhold them through life (instead of growing).

Comments?

Generally, I agree that people are reliant on therapists for the wrong reasons. My therapist told me most people who come to his office don't want to solve problems. They want to blame others and play victim. They don't want to do the work involved to solve issues.

However, there is no rule that says a therapist must (or should) be temporary. A therapist's role should be based on the individual needs and desires of each client. That's why one of the first things a good therapist asks is, "What do you specifically want to work on?"

In my therapy relationship, I'm not there to cure myself or heal. I asked if the therapist would provide ongoing sessions for an extended period even without a specific goal in mind because I wanted to use therapy as a sounding board for my thoughts and to work through a variety of challenges in business and life.

For instance, in our sessions, we explore things like idea-hopping (my therapist is a successful business owner) and we create solutions such as journaling or documenting mood and energy over a period of weeks to better understand the cycles, figure out what's beneath them, and ultimately, find ways to work with those cycles or around them.

We explore thoughts and emotions and the therapist provides an alternative perspective that sometimes alters or enhances my own perspective.

We explore relationships. For instance, I've been divorced for almost two years and wanted to start dating again, but feared that I was out of touch and would be single for the rest of my life. We navigated this and I found the courage to go forward and face that fear. Within a couple of weeks, I started dating again and found out how wrong I was about nobody wanting to date me. Would I eventually have started dating without therapy? Yes. That's just who I am, but I believe therapy helped me get there a lot faster.

The therapist IS looking for job security.

They are not your friend. That does not mean they are not a valuable tool/resource, but you really need to work with a truly qualified professional, and you need to be real about what you want from the relationship.

Most people aren't going anywhere anyway, so what does it matter if they use therapy as a crutch? Therapists are healers, and most of that healing comes from helping others find comfort within themselves. Some people find comfort in being a victim and unless they actually want to change, then the therapist's role isn't to change them.

Something I've thought about a lot recently is the value of therapy as a mitigation tool. People seek therapy when they're in a bad place. What if they worked with a therapist from a time when they were in a good place, and avoided bad places? Wouldn't they be more productive toward their goals and aspirations?

Couples often seek therapy when their relationship is falling apart. What if they leveraged therapy as a tool for growth from the beginning when everything was great? What if they worked together to navigate around the pitfalls and traps that destroy relationships?

That's how I think about it.

 

[mikecarlooch]

late night thought -

once you get over the hump of starting something and see real momentum being built, the effort itself becomes one of the most fulfilling things in life.

Night everyone!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Lovely, an Elizabeth Holmes disciple.

JP Morgan Says Startup Founder Used Millions Of Fake Customers To Dupe It Into An Acquisition

JP Morgan is suing the founder of a Mark Rowan-backed startup it acquired, claiming the fintech, Frank, had sold the financial giant on a “lie.”

www.forbes.com

No fraud is ever complete without the deviously evil smile in Forbes to complement the scam. She should have played a part in the horror flick SMILE.

 

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[Kak]

Once you dive into praxeology, or the study of human action, you discover some serious inconsistencies that, yes, completely preclude a thinking person from being a socialist.

The study essentially uses the improvement of one’s condition as the foundation for all human effort. Essentially, if you do something, anything, you are seeking to improve your condition from where you were before you took the action.

That could be as big of a deal as starting and growing a company, or as little of a deal as tidying up your car or even taking a nap. There is an underlying belief that whatever you are doing is improving your condition. Even alcoholics buying and consuming alcohol is part of their praxeology. It’s not good for them and doesn’t improve crap in the long term, but they believe a drunken state to be an improvement on their condition.

Even charity! Helping others and being charitable is something that many enjoy. An improvement on their condition.

It’s a universal truth.

Socialists, Marxists and communists have the bizarre belief that politicians have some wonderous power to ignore this foundational truth, and serve “the greater good.” They are special. They can completely ignore human nature because they are a politician. They fall for the trick.

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

Someone asked me privately if writing on Medium is a good side hustle.

Here was my answer

-----------------------------------------------------------

Hey,

It works, but I don't recommend it for the following reasons.

1. It takes a monstrous amount of time: it took me 18 months of constant writing before I made $300 in one month.
2. It's impossible to control. Some months I have made $1.5k. Some months, I made $400.
3. If breaks all CENTS commandments.

Control: if the platform kicks you out, you're dead.
Entry: anyone can sign up and start writing.
Need: nobody is asking for reading what you're writing.
Time: you can't automate writing
Scale: it doesn't scale as your writing is behind the paywall.

4. Most people fail because writing is hard.

I got on Medium completely randomly and did not plan to make any money with it.

I still did, but it was a total accident.

If you're looking for a side hustle, here's what I would do instead.

1. Laser-engraver wallet side hustle: I quit my warehouse job after starting an Etsy side hustle that made $67,000 in profit in 10 months. Here's how I escaped the 9-to-5 grind.
2. Airbnb in your garden/apartment
3. TikTok agency
4. Data science on Upwork
5. Tour guide
6. Affiliate marketing (just go on Flippa and copy whatever site you see there)
7. Online teaching: italki, preply, etc
8. Plants e-commerce shop

If you invest one year into any of these, you'll make 10X what I have made on Medium in three years.

I am still writing there to earn a bit of money (...) but I am not planning to keep on doing so as I could do much better things with my time.

Yet...if you really want to write there, then I suggest you create a premium account and follow the following people:

- Tim Denning
- Isaiah McCall
- Ayodeji Awosika
- Jared A. Brock
- Sean Kernan

They're the best writers on Medium.

Then watch the YouTube channel of Zulie Rain.

Then start writing.

Now I will answer your questions:

How does Medium work exactly: like Youtube. The more people read you, the more you earn.
What do you get paid for (for the articles, clicks...): one article made me $1.2k, others made me $0.
How much does one earn per article: depends. Cannot be predicted.
Is there a minimum length?: Medium likes when you write at least 800 words.
Is it possible to write under a pseudonym on Medium: ofc.
How sustainable is this? Is your income stopping immediately if you stop writing: no. Sometimes I wrote less, and earned more. But sometimes I wrote more, and earned less. It's not really sustainable and kinda feels like a running wheel.

Best,

Monfi

 

[Kak]

Lol. How long before that's in common use? Kyle said it first here.

ChatGPT sure of yourself

 

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[Simon Angel]

I believe you should be wary of advice and quotes from famous people who were depressed or committed suicide. Sometimes what people consider “deep” is actually just nihilistic and defeatist.

Unfortunately, I think that it's a brain malfunction/genetic predisposition. I've gone through a lot of stuff physically and mentally that would've made a lot of my friends commit suicide. And yet, I never entertained the thought.

On the other hand, I have friends who have talked to me about having suicidal thoughts, and I would consider their problems to be very mild and easily fixable. Those friends are either addicted to gambling or do not have a woman in their lives (OR are still living with their parents).

Physical activity, good sleep, lots of Vitamin D, love, and having a purpose/finding meaning in something greater than yourself has worked for me. Oh, and being very selective of the music I listen to as I'm very sensitive to that. In fact, I rarely listen to modern music anymore, it's mostly jazz/classical/Sinatra & Dean Martin era hits.

Interestingly, I have an equal amount of male and female acquaintances, and while I know of at least a dozen guys who had/have been suicidal, I can only ever recall two girls being like that.

 

[Andy Black]

Just saw a Shopify ad of Mr Beast talking about how easy it is to start a business..

He knows DAMN WELL It's not easy, how could someone who worked as hard as him say something like that

Working hard doesn't mean it's not easy.

I think it's easy to start a business.

Help, entertain, educate, or otherwise serve people and get paid for it.

The hard part is to keep doing the right thing every day, and to not overcomplicate it.

Most people's problem is they get in their own way and overcomplicate everything (aka solve problems they don't have).

 

[Kak]

View attachment 46779

This is so funny.

Frosted mini wheats coming in at #3.

The propaganda these days isn’t even trying to make sense.

I want the supersize me guy to do a year on the government food pyramid, exactly as it says, just to show what it does to a person.

Imagine being someone that seeks out government recommendations on what to eat…

 

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[c4n]

Random reminder to update the footer copyright statement at the bottom of your websites.

Ideally, your setup should automatically do that, but sometimes, it has to be done manually. I've seen many websites recently with 2022, 2021 etc. I just saw a country embassy's official site in the US, with a 2020 footer copyright.

Whenever I see that on websites, it rubs the wrong way, so yeah.

My websites:

&copy; Copyright XXX 2010-<?php echo date('Y'); ?>. All Rights Reserved.

 

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[Kak]

I was debating about redesigning the Unscripted cover as the book gets more popular. I was thinking about a big fat middle-finger since book titles with "f-this" and "f-that" seem acceptable nowadays. What do you think? This is not in response to any negative feedback on the cover, which in fact, no one has ever commented negatively on the cover. When TMF was first released, it was a daily event.

Meh. Stay classy. Those “F*ck books” are annoying. I don’t bother reading them as I automatically assume there’s nothing of substance I’d get out of it.

As far as a marketing strategy is concerned, Subtle Art was probably the first to try it and it clearly worked out well for it, but now, the shock value is over.

 

[Walter Hay]

I have a question about retail sales.

When a shop discount an item for 70%, and the item is not damaged or whatever, it's just on sale.

Does the shop still make a profit?

If yes, that means they sell items for 3 or 4 times what they cost.

Actually, I remember discussing this with @Walter Hay a few years ago.

I don't remember the answer though.

I checked the more than 1,000 message conversations I have had with members over the years and can't find your name there, but here is my answer:

Most B& M retailers mark up by 100%, which means they have a profit margin of 50%. I have seen many cases of retail markups much higher than that.

Once, when helping a member source a particular type of shoe, I found what was wanted and it was available FOB China at $2. !!!. Not long after, when shopping in a big shoe store with my wife I saw what appeared to be the identical item on special at 20 times that cost.

Here's an example from the last time I was in Beijing. I was shopping where the locals shop in a dirty back lane, and went into a clothing store. There I found a good quality suit for retail US$38. (US$ equivalent to the RMB amount I would have had to pay if I wanted it.) Haggling would have reduced the price to possibly as low as $25.

The shopkeeper had no possibility of exerting the buying power of a big retailer, so his cost would have been around $12.50.

A couple of days later I was in Birmingham UK, where I saw a large retailer selling that identical suit on special at the equivalent of over US$130. The retailer probably paid a lot less than the shopkeeper in Beijing.

Pricing is often decided on the basis of what the market will bear.

Walter

 

[Antifragile]

someone had a button they could press to be 12% body fat you don't think they would press it?

I got that button. I swear! Every time I put in 12-14 hours of race training per week for 8-9 months, I always end up in the best shape! Just like that.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Looks like the next big thing that will make you millions is no longer the next big thing...

New podcast creation has fallen off a cliff

It’s harder than ever to find audience for a new podcast, and creators know it.

www.theverge.com

Out Podcasting, In AI and newsletters.

I think the newsletters cycle will be short due to proliferation and it is impossible to read 10 newsletters a day. That's my struggle already.

This cycle has been repeating ever since the Internet became a thing 25+ years ago.

 

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[Kak]

I liked this.

 

[GPM]

I watched the first episode of The Last of Us recently. I cried like a little baby at a certain point near the start of it.

Ever since becoming a father I just can't handle shows or anything where kids get hurt. All I can think about is my kids and how much it would absolutely destroy me if something happened to them.

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

A company offered me to write on their website (for free).

I accept, tell them my only two conditions are do-follow links in the writer's bio and at the end of the articles.

Their answer: you have to pay $30 per month for that.

My answer: *clown emoji*

 

[Kak]

I’d rather personally pressure wash driveways every day than be a copywriter.

 

[Mammoth]

Hormozi mentioned on Twitter that changing your phones colour scheme to grayscale makes it less addictive. He’s right. You don’t see the red of the notifications badge.
Reminds me of the old Nokia brick days. I miss that Snake game.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I wonder if you should put this into the "Required Reading" post that people have to read when they join?

That wouldn't have helped. He ignored multiple warnings that were put right in front of his face.

Is this the person who made multiple accounts with your photo as an avatar?

Yes.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I've promoted this Tweet on Twitter to experiment with their ads.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1623762342633676802

View: https://twitter.com/MJDeMarco/status/1623762342633676802?s=20&t=jJfTdYrchAyXy0PqRGD0xw

Most people say Twitter ads suck. For experimental sake, I'm going to throw $100 at it and see if Twitter ads is viable for other promotions. I will report back here if I have any conclusions.

$100 and it yielded 1 new follower. Incredibly dismal. In fact, my new follow rate declined as I deployed this promo.

783 engagements are OK so it generated some forum traffic, but not enough to justify the cost.

Overall, this is like burning money in the fireplace.

 

[ZF Lee]

Is this "normal"? Or is this a freak result?

I mean do you, @MJ DeMarco , get lots of emails like this? Because it seems to me that this guy went from zero to $34m in about four years and to my mind that seems incredibly fast by any measure.

Maybe I don't understand the Fastlane well enough.

Everyone has their own path to take...and their own strengths and weaknesses.
Don't worry too much about that.

Work on the habits that bring you progress.

Personally I don't diss freelancing as an obstacle to the Fastlane, the same way I try not to diss 9-5 jobs.
It is just a model for providing value with expertise that you possess-- and you can convert it to other avenues too like productivized services or even commissions/royalty.

Like I said, people find their different ways to learn and master business, marketing, people skills and anything else required for Fastlane.

 

[Kak]

Got my first ever charcoal grill… It makes such good food. I’m convinced my propane grill is like a microwave by comparison. Mind blown.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

 

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[Antifragile]

Thats really cool - just got lucky or did you have any approach that helped?

Thanks.

Partly luck, partly we create our luck … just like in business, I guess.

Things I did:
- find contacts whose kids are attending same school
- get their recommendation letters
- visited the school a few times, met administrators as a whole family, got to know each other
- met with a board member for the school
- volunteered my own time etc.

I figured, kid must be good to have a chance, but it’s never just about the kid either. It’s also about the family. With that I pulled no stops.
Glad it worked!

 

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[loop101]

If you believe, you can achieve anything, especially with a good soundtrack.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1629300796381601792

View: https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/1629300796381601792

 

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